noun
salt; table salt; sodium chloride
The ordinary noun for salt, especially table salt used in cooking; can also refer to sodium chloride as a substance.
スープに塩をひとつまみ加える。
Add a pinch of salt to the soup.
この料理は塩を控えめにした。
I used less salt in this dish.
noun
Food and cooking use for how strong the salt flavor is; common in expressions such as 塩が強い or 塩が足りない.
この漬物は少し塩が強い。
These pickles are a little too salty.
noun
Rare figurative use for hardship or bitter experience; it is much less common than the literal salt sense and is safest understood as a set or literary-style usage.
古い表現では、「塩」が苦労や辛い経験を指すことがある。
In older expressions, 塩 can refer to hardship or bitter experience.
noun, used as a prefix
cold; unwelcoming; indifferent
Colloquial prefix-like use, especially in compounds such as 塩対応, describing a curt, cool, or unfriendly attitude.
店員の塩対応に少しがっかりした。
I was a little disappointed by the clerk's cold treatment.
彼は初対面の人には塩対応になりがちだ。
He tends to act cold toward people he has just met.